Pacifism in Germany

The existence of pacifism in Germany has changed over time, with the consistent feature of having diverse groups with a shared belief in an opposition to participating in war.

However, the movement was small with only 10,000 active members at its peak,[3] as it did not resonate with the wider population who was in favour of the German expansion.

During this time there were two Hague Peace Conferences, which resulted in various multi-lateral treaties regarding military expansion and foreign policy.

[5] This activism from female groups was the result of changing cultural, political and social roles of women which had developed during the war.

In 1915 at the Hague, the Women's Peace Conference met to discuss methods to end the war through negotiations.

[1] The existence of pacifists in Germany is at its lowest and least organised during this time, as a result of the Nazi Government’s policies regarding movements which oppose their regime.

This is evident as a peace protest at Bonn occurred in 1981 which was a demonstration against the production of nuclear weapons and the militarism of the NATO alliance system.

The reason for the popularity was the outcome of the First and Second World War, as the significant loss of lives shifted the culture towards militarism in Germany.

Another factor which influenced the size of the Bonn demonstration was the NATO plan to introduce intermediate-range theatre nuclear forces (INF) into Germany as a part of their military arsenal.

This is driven primarily by the history of Germany during the First and Second World Wars, as there was a significant loss of lives as a result of the perception of pacifism by the wider population.

The use of force rarely occurs unless there is a need for humanitarian intervention, which is derived from the United Nations principle of collective security.

[7] This damaged bi-lateral relations between the nations and was a significant moment for modern German foreign policy and its reliance on pacifism.

After the Rwandan Genocide and the Bosnian War, the left-wing German parties allowed for military intervention on the basis of humanitarian reasons, while their right-wing counterparts believed in the strategic use of force for foreign policy.

While the right-wing Christian-Democratic party has adopted a policy stating that Germany should be capable of defending itself through the use of military force.

[3] During this same era, Germany has consolidated its economic and political power over Europe, making the impact of their foreign policy significant.

With the Annexation of Crimea Russia has shown an aggressive use of military force in their conduct of foreign policy which provides the German Government with difficulties maintaining their pacifist ideology as the breach of human rights has had little impact on the Russian foreign policy, which is considered to be the result of Germany pacifism to some extent.